Press



J; CARROLL Oct. 1, 1929.

PRESS Filed Feb. 3, 1927 2 Shets-Sheet 1 0 TIIEIFB- J m z I V m Ill/VENTOH Ja'se CAZITOLL By 7 4%, Wk% ATTORNEYS ObtQl, 1929. J. cARRoL 1,729,996

PRESS Filed Feb. s, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTOR/VEYS Patented Get. l, 192%? JOSEPH CARROLL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO SPADONE MACHTNE COM- PANY, INQ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF ITEVI'YORI'I PRESS :1

Application filed February 3, 1927. Serial No. 165,585.

The invention relates to presses of the type which are designed to develop pressure upon materials in the process of manufacturing certain articles, and has to do more par ticularly with hydraulic or other presses such as are used in the production of mechanical belts, and in molding sheet rubber, rubber tiling, asbestos and other packings, and in the manufacture of brake lining. Such presses generally include a supporting platen for the material and a (to-operating platen for applying the pressure, the plat-- ens being dimensioned to accommodate articles of the maximum sizes for which the press is designed. During the application of the pressure, for instance, in vulcanizing a mechanical belt, it is necessary to confine the article, such as the belt, along its edges so that it may be held against spreading and molded in the proper form and dimensions. In order to adapt such presses for the production of articles of less than the maximum size arranged to be accommodated therein, such as belts of reduced width, it has heretofore been the custom to utilize separate independent filler strips or bars for temporarily reducing the size of the supporting platen to the desired dimensions. These independent strips have always been diflicult to handle and manipulate and accordingly have made this method of varying the dimensions of the supporting platen a troublesome one and time and labor consuming. The object of the present invention is to overcome these disadvantages and to provide a novel and simple arrangement whereby such adjustment of the dimensions of the supporting platen as may be desired can be brought about in an eflicient and reliable manner and with a minimum of manual effort and skill. Other objects will appear from the description hereinafter and the features of novelty will'be pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which show an example of the invention without defining its 'limits, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view of a belt press showing the supporting platen thereof with the invention embodied therein; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view showing the adjusting means on an en larged scale; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan View showing another part of the adjusting means; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of Fig. 4; and Fig. 7 is a fragmentary side elevation of the'actuating means for the adjusting means.

For the purpose of illustration and description, T have shown the invention embodied in a belt press of the class in which mechanical belts are vulcanized or molded under pressure. The press itself or its equivalent may be of any conventional type and may include all features and elements generally found therein, and for this reason T have shown only as much of such a press as is necessary to fully and adequately illustrate and describe the invention and its method of utilization.

In the drawings 10 represents the supporting platen of a belt press, which platen is of any convenient length and of a width to accommodate the widest belt for which the press is designed; this platen 10 is constructed and mounted in the customary manner to withstand the high pressures developed by engagement with the pressure platen 10 of the press during active use thereof. At spaced, preferably regular, intervals, main brackets 11 are secured to the platen 10 or its support by means of bolts 12, said brackets being of atype and fastened in place to resist the forces developed in the press, as will appear more fully hereinafter. The main brackets 11 are arranged to lie flush with the upper-surface of the platen 10, as shown in Fig. 3 and are provided with upright flanges 13, the inner edge surfaces 1 of which are inclined relatively to the length of. the platen to provide wedging shoulders 14, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

As shown in Fig. 1 the shoulders 14 on opposite sides of the platen 1O incline in opposite directions, so that the shoulders 14 of the group on one side of said platen diverge outwardly with respect to the shoulders of the group on the opposite side thereof. In the preferred construction the brackets 11 and their associated elements upon opposite sides of the platen are arranged in opposed registry with each other, for instance, as illustrated in Fig. 1; the number and arrangement of the main brackets 11 and associated elements may vary with the nature of the press or other apparatus, its dimensions and the character of the work it is designed to perform. V/ edge blocks are slidably mounted upon the main brackets 11 so as to be capable of projecting over the upper surface of the platen 10 and have their outer edge surfaces inclined in parallelism with the inner surfaces of the flanges 13 to provide wedging shoulders 16 lying in surface engagement and co-operating with the wedging shoulders 1 1 of the main brackets 11; the inner edge surfacesof said blocks 15 are parallel to the length of the platen and provide straight shoulders 16 the purpose of which will appear more fully hereinafter.

Any suitable means may be provided for sliding the wedge blocks 15 on the brackets 11 iii-a manner to cause the co-operating shoulders 1+1 and 16 to shift saidbloc is 15 inwardly and outwardly with respect to the platen 10 at will. For instance, as shown in the illustrated example, the mainbrackets 11 may be A provided with slots 17 inclined in directions parallel to the shoulders 14 and 16 and slidably' accommodating sliding blocks 18 secured to the lower surfaces of the wedge blocks 15 by bolts 19or its equivalent. As illustrated in Fig. 3 the bolts 19 also pass through spacing sleeves 20 and serve to connect the latter and the blocks 18 with auxiliary brackets 21 fixed upon bars 22 in any conventional manher as by belts or the like 23; the brackets 21 are provided with slots 21 to permit the bolts 19 to move relatively to'said brackets as the blocks 18 travel lengthwise of the slots 17. The sleeves 20 are surrounded by bushings 2 1 in the illustrated example, said bushings 2 1 projecting transversely beyond the slots 17 and engaging the lower surfaces of the main brackets 11 to maintain the wedge blocks 15 against rising relatively thereto. T'he bars 22 extend throughout the length of the press uponopposite sides thereof and are siidably mounted in any convenient manner, and as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 may simply be sus' pended by the auxiliary brackets 21 in surface engagement with the platen 10 or its support as shown in Fig. 3.

For the purpose of actuating all of the wedge blocks 15 simultaneously in the intended manner any convenient and suitable mechanism may be provided. For instance, as illustrated in the drawings and more particularly in Fig. 7, the bars 22 may each be provided at one end with an operating screw 25, pivotallv connected at 26 and passing through worm gears 27 in screwthreaded engagement therewith. The worm gears 27 are journalled in bearing brackets 28 fixed upon the platen 10 or its support in any suitable manner, as by means of bolts 28, the arrangement being such that the worm gears 27 are free to rotate in the brackets 28 but are held thereby against any shifting in axial directions; it will be understood that the operating screws pass through said brackets 28 without being in threaded engagei'nent therewith. The worm gears 27 are arranged in mesh with worm pinions 29 fixedupon an actuating shaft 30 journalled in the brackets 28 and carrying also a hand wheel 30 or equivalent device for facilitating the operation of the mechanism.

The maximum moulding space or its equivalent on the upper surface of the platen 10 is defined by metal or other strips or bars 31 which extend lengthwise of the platen 10 at opposite sides thereof and may be termed the main strips; these strips 31 he against the straight shoulders 16 of the wedge blocks 15 and constitute flanges which extend lengthwise along the upper surface of the platen 10 as shown in Fig. 1. If the press isto be utilized for belts of reduced width, auxiliary strips or bars 32 are used for this purpose,

some of said bars being of such length as to extend throughout the length of the platen 10 while others may be of lesser length and located at spaced intervals as shown in Fig. 1. The auxiliary strips 32 are laid against each other and against the main strips 31 upon the upper surface of the platen 10 in such numbers as may be required to produce a moulding or equivalentspace of the desired dimen sions; the strips 32 may all be of the same standard width, generally a predetermined unit of measurement, or some of said strips may be of greater or lesser width in order to increase the range of adyustment. strips 31 and 32 may be said to constitute boundary strips for defining a predetermined space on the platen 10, which in the illustrated example, corresponds to the width of the vulcanized belt 341. In order that the groups of strips 32 may be manipulated as units with the main strips 31, said strips may be connected with each other and with said main strips 31 in the desired groups in any convenient manner. For instance, as shown in Fig.1, clamping devices 33 of any suitable form may be provided for this purpose and detachably'fixed upon the groups of strips 3132 at opposite ends thereof; it will be understood that the arrangement is such that the clamping devices 33 will not interfere with the molding of the belt or its equivalent or affect the edge conformation thereof.

In utilizing the press in connection with a belt of the maximumwidth for which it is designed only the main strips31 are utilized, while if a belt 3 1 of reduced width is to be treated in the press, a predetermined num ber of auxiliary strips 32 are placed upon The I the upper surface of the platenlO against each other and against the main strips 31. to provide two groups of strips upon opposite sides of the platen 10 and which are fastened together in such groupform, for instance, by means of the clamping devices 33. In such case the inner strips 32 define the opposite longitudinal walls'ot the molding space in which the belt 34: is to be vulcanized, the di tance between the inner strips 31 of the opposite groups of strips,'in the innermost position thereof, corresponding to the width of the belt 34 in its tinalvulcanized or otherwise finished condition. In. any case the hand wheel 3 a is operated in a manner to rotate the screws 25 in directions to shift the bars 22 upwardly in Fig. 1 to thereby correspondingly shift the blocks 18 in the slots 17 and the wedge blocks on the brackets 11; because of the inclination of the slot 1? this operation will cause the wedge blocks 15 to move outwardly along the shoulders 14 so that the wedge blocks 15 of one group move away from those of the other group and the distance between opposed straight shoulders 16 is increased, the bolts 19 meanwhile moving outwardly in the slots 21 ot' the brackets 21. With the edge blocks in this position the main strips 31, unless the arrangement to be described her inatter is utilized, are placed against the str ight shoulders 16 with or without the clamped group of auxiliary strips as the case may be, and the belt 3% is placed in position upon the platen. This operation is easily accomplished and requires no special effort as the distance between the opposed strips 31. or between opposed strips 32 is greater than the width of the belt at this stage; it will be understood that any stretching or other operations which customarily are performed upon the belt 24 at this or any other. time in the manufacturing process, may be carried out in the usual way. When the belt 34 is properly in place upon the platen 1O, the hand wheel 3O is operated to cause the worm gearing 29, 2'4" and the screws 25 to exert a pull simultaneously upon the bars 22.: This pull is transferred simultaneously to all of the blocks 18 and thence to the wedging blocks 15, and because of the inclination of the slot 17 and particularly through the cooperation of th wedging shoulders l l and 16, shifts the wedging blocks 15 inwardly upon the platen 10. This inward adjustment of said blocks 15 causes the strips 31 alone, or the groups of strips 31 and 32, to be correspondingly adjusted and brings said strips into engagement with the longitudinal edges oi the belt 34 and thereby confines the latter raised into engagement with the. platen 10. to-cause said 'platens to. develop pressure uponthe belt as shown in Fig. 3, and the vulcan zmg or other process is earned out in the conventional way.- After this process of strips 31, 32 may be automatically withdrawn from the belt 3% when the wedge blocks 15 are shifted to the outer positions, as hereinbefore described, the following means may be provided At spaced intervals secondary brackets 35 are secured upon the supportingplaten 10.0r its support, for instance, by means of bolts 36 and are provided with slots 37 which extend parallel to the length of said platen 10, as shown in Fig. 4. The slots 3'? slidably accommodate blocks 38 carried by auxiliary brackets 39 fastened to the-bars 22 and are connected with secondary wedge blocks 4L0 by means of bolts 41, which serve to alsosecure the blocks 38 to the auxiliary brackets 39, as. shown inFig. 5.

The inner edge surfaces oi the wedge blocks 40 are straight and are in sliding contact with the edge walls of the platen 10, while the outer surfaces are inclined to provide wedging shoulders 42 engaging and cooperating with correspondingly inclined wedging shoulders 43 of members 44 slidably mounted upon the brackets 35, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The inclinations of the wedging shoulders l2, 13 on a given side of the platen 10 are indirections opposite to the directions of inclination of the wedging shoulders 141, 16 on the same side of the platen, asclearly illustrated in Fig. 1. The members a l in turn are connected with slides 45 by means of screws or the like 46 which serve also to fasten yokes 1? in place upon said slides 45, said'yokes extending beneaththe brackets 35 to maintain the members 44; and slides 15 in slidable connection therewith as shown in 6.. The slides -15 at their inner ends are connected with the main strips 31, preferably so that the latter are detachable at will, the connection being such as to couple the strips 31 and slides l5 together. For instance, the connection may be effected by circular lugs 48 on one of said elements and correspondingly formed recesses in the other element for the accommodation of said lugs; as shownin Fig. 4, the lugs l8 are located upon the slides 15 and are fitted into recesses formed in the main strips 31.

/Vith this arrangement, as the bars 22 are operated, through the medium of the hand wheel 30 and its associated elements, to shift the wedge blocks 15 in one direction, the wedge blocks 4'10 will coincidentally be adjusted in the opposite direction. Thus, as the wedgeblocks15 are shiited to adjust the strips 31, 32 inwardly, the wedge" blocks 40 will be adjusted so as not to interfere with this inward adjustment; similarlywhen the wedge blocks 15 are adjusted outwardly, the wedge blocks 40 will be simultaneously actuated to force the wedgingshoulders 42 along the wedging shoulders 43 in" a manner to force the slides 45 and'their associated elements outwardly onthe brackets 35. As this occurs, a pull in outward directions istransmitted by the lugs 48 to the main strips 31 and through the medium of the clamps 33 to the auxiliary strips 32 and consequently pulls said strips in directions away from the opposite edges of the belt 34. In this way the separation of the strips from the belt'is automatically accomplished coincidentally with the shifting of the wedge blocks 15 in outward directions.

In orderto facilitate the adjustment of the parts, a suitable scale 49 may be provided upon'one ofthe flanges 13'and a co-operating scale or designation or mar z" 00 produced upon the co-operating wedge block 15 to visibly indicate the" adjustment. Similarly to avoid the necessity for exercising any special care in effecting, successive, corresponding adjustments, suitablemeans may be provided for automatically stopping the adjustment of the wedge-blocks 15 and associated ele ments successively at any given point within the range of adjustment. This means may comprise a' suitable. stop 51 adjustably fixed upon one of the bars 22 for co-operati-on with a suitable stationary part ofthe apparatus to automatically arrest the adjusting movements of the parts at a given point until the position of the stop 51 on the bar 22 is changed With this arrangement no special care need be exercised in the adjustment of the wedge blocks 15 and this operation is accordingly reduced to the simplest point.

The mechanism is extremely simple in construction and reliable in operation and requires no skill in its use. The cumbersome and troublesome methods heretofore used are thus done away with and the adjustment of the molding space or its equivalent in pressesor other apparatus to various dimensions Within the range thereof is reduced to the. simplest operation.

In addition to be useful in connection with belt presses of the kind described the novel features may be embodied with equally efiicient results in presses for molding sheet rubber, rubber tiling, asbestos and other packings, and in machines for making brake'linings and the like.

Various changes in the specific form shown and described may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. The combination of a pressure platen,

minedspace on saidplaten, and reciprocable means movable linearly in the direction of the length ofsa-id platen whereby said strips are adjusted in directions transverse to the linear movement of said reciprocable means to space-defining positions on said platen.

2. The combination of a pressure resisting platen; wedging devices located in opposedrelation upon opposite sides of said platen and having their wedging surfaces extending in the direction of the length thereof, and means for coincidentally shifting said devices in lineal directions lengthwise of said platen to increase and decrease the distances between opposed wedging devices at will.

3. In a power press, the combination of a pressure resisting platen, oppositely disposed stationary wedging shoulders upon opposite sides of said platen, wedge blocks slidably combined with said wedging shoulders, and mechanism for simultaneously shifting said wedge blocks relatively to said wedging shoulders to shift said blocks relatively to said platen in inward and outward directions.

4. In a power press, the combination of a pressure resisting platen, a plurality of brackets fixed upon opposite sides of said platen in groups and providedwith inclined slots, wedging shoulders on said brackets inclined in directions parallel to said slots, wedge blocks on said brackets in slidable engagement with said wedging shoulders, members slidable in said slots and connected with said wedge blocks, sliding bars on opposite sides of said platen connected with said members, and manually controlled mechanism for coincidentally actuating saidtween. at will, longitudinal boundary strips for defining a predetermined space on said platen adapted to be adjusted by said wedging' devices to the space defining positions, additional wedging devices upon Opposite sides of said platen operated coincidentally with said first named wedging devices but in inverse relation thereto, and connections be tween said additional wedging devices and said strips whereby the latter are drawn away from said space defining positions.

6. In a power press, the combination of a' pressure resisting platen, a plurality of brackets fixed upon opposite sides of said platen in groups and provided with inclined slots, wedgingshoulderson said brackets'in- 1 clined in directions parallel to said slots,

wedge blocks on said brackets in slidable engagement with said wedging shoulders, members slidable in said slots and connected with said wedge blocks, sliding bars on opposite sides of said platen connected with said members, and manualy controlled mechanism for coincidentally actuating said bars to simultaneously adjust all of said wedge blocks relatively to said wedging shoulders to thereby shift said wedge blocks inwardly and outwardly relatively to said platen, boundary strips for defining a predetermined space on said platen movable inwardly by said wedge blocks to the space defining positions, additional wedging devices connected with said bars and operated in inverse relation to said wedge blocks, and connections between said wedging devices and said boundary strips whereby the latter are drawn away from said space defining positions.

7 The combination of a platen, boundary strips for defining a predetermined space on said platen, and means reciprocable relatively to said boundary strips in lineal directions for adjusting said strips transversely of the platen to space defining positions thereon.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

. JOSEPH CARROLL. 

